Viva Forever

On the way home from work last Friday, I saw a poster ad for the Van Heusen brand on the side of a bus. The image I saw happens to be the same one that’s on the front page of their website (i.e. the blueish one with the dude on the foreground and the blurry swimsuited woman in the background) that got my thoughts rolling long after the bus had driven past.

Here’s a couple of thoughts that flitted through my brain.

1. Argh, get away from the pool, man! She looks like she’s going to slink seductively towards you and probably drape herself on you, which would then make your suit and shirt all soggy with chlorinated water. Do you want to have to go get that dry cleaned? I realise I hate seeing people fully dressed next to pools!!
2. What’s that woman doing there anyway? Not only does that brand not sell woman’s swimwear, but that she’s too blurry to be advertising anything.
3. Is that what the advertising is trying to tell us? “Wear our clothes and you too can get near to blurry, scantily clad women!” Sexist undertones? The ideal man = wearing suits, ideal woman = wearing swimsuits in pools?
4. Why is he holding a thin, girly, necklace/bracelet? Is that HER jewelry? WHY IS HE STEALING HER SHIT? Is he actually a petty thief? Is that the only way he could afford these undoubtedly expensive clothes?

And so forth.

Hmm probably shouldn’t make it a habit posting at four in the morning.

So it’s 4:35am now and I’m here, eating cereal, writing this blog entry while waiting for the clothes washing to finish. Today is the last day of house-sitting, and we’re preparing to pack up and go home. Meanwhile, things have been complicated by an epic three-day marathon at a friend’s house of all three books of Avatar: The Last Airbender, which happens to be a surprisingly fun and awesome animation. I RECOMMEND WATCHING. We’re taking a break to drive all the way back to the house so we can do the final washing of the linen used, pack up some things, wash the dishes, clean the place up, before heading back to finish the marathon. Looong day ahead!

Living out has been a somewhat challenging but ultimately rewarding experience. I was at first apprehensive that the housework may turn out to be a horribly arduous and constant chore, especially without having had to do many chores at home, but it’s not at all that bad. Cleaning has been an easy experience. I tend to clean up dirty plates and stuff soon after a meal as the mental imagery of unclean food bits lying around for a while just gnaws at the back of my head. Clothes washing has been a straightforward as it’s simply done occasionally when enough stuff needs to be washed. I’m not at all finding that I need to be dedicating much time each day to household stuff and yet everything is hygienic and manageable. The food situation had improved dramatically too, as Tim and I had moved relatively quickly to cooking quality food with meats and vegies and them turning out to be surprisingly delicious.

The only real headache has been the three fucking cats. Not only are they fussy with how often they need to be fed, they’re also mental. As I was looking through a cardboard box that had been kept open on the floor of the kitchen with our spare dry products (e.g. cans of drinks, cereal, tissue boxes) I found that one of the cats had shat in the box. UGH SO GLAD TO BE RID OF THEM. *facepalm*

Anyway, this time tomorrow I’ll probably be asleep back at my parent’s house. However, I’m much more confident now about moving out relatively soon again, but with just Tim and I and *no* goddamn cats. There’s plenty to do, lots of companies and organisations to call up (time to do research on internet plans) as well as house hunting. I’m really glad that throughout all this that I have such supportive people around; from a very helpful mother to a number of cool dudes and dudettes who are kind enough to offer lots of encouragement and advice. And of course, Tim who has shown that he’s very willing to pull his weight to make this work (he’s already demonstrated to be more enthusiastic about cooking than I!).

But anyway, one step at a time. I’m starting to ramble as it is and there’s lots more work to do, followed by more epic things to watch.